diff --git a/R/class-workbook.R b/R/class-workbook.R
index f16401af6..ba765465f 100644
--- a/R/class-workbook.R
+++ b/R/class-workbook.R
@@ -9395,6 +9395,9 @@ wbWorkbook <- R6::R6Class(
     ) {
       name <- replace_legal_chars(name)
 
+      if (!grepl("^[\\p{L}_][^\\s]*$", name, perl = TRUE))
+        stop("named region must begin with a letter or an underscore and not contain whitespace(s).")
+
       # special names
 
       ## print
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-named_regions.R b/tests/testthat/test-named_regions.R
index 4c0dc8240..c85d49846 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-named_regions.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-named_regions.R
@@ -524,3 +524,13 @@ test_that("local_sheet works", {
   expect_equal(exp, got)
 
 })
+
+test_that("named region checks work", {
+  wb <- wb_workbook()$add_worksheet()
+
+  expect_error(wb$add_named_region(dims = "A1", name = 1), "letter or an underscore")
+  expect_error(wb$add_named_region(dims = "B1", name = "1"), "letter or an underscore")
+  expect_silent(wb$add_named_region(dims = "C1", name = stringi::stri_unescape_unicode("\\u00e4")))
+  expect_error(wb$add_named_region(dims = "D1", name = "a b"), "letter or an underscore")
+  expect_error(wb$add_named_region(dims = "D1", name = "A1"), "cell reference")
+})